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Rigoberta Menchú Tum - Nobel Lecture

Acceptance and Nobel Lecture, December 10, 1992

(Translation)

Your Majesties, the King and
Queen of Norway,
The Honorable Members of the Nobel Peace Committee,
Your Excellency, the Prime Minister,
Your Excellencies, Members of the Government and the Diplomatic
Corps,
Dear Guatemalan countrymen and women,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I feel a deep emotion and pride for the
honor of having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1992. A
deep personal feeling and pride for my country and its very
ancient culture. For the values of the community and the people
to which I belong, for the love of my country, of Mother Nature.
Whoever understands this respects life and encourages the
struggle that aims at such objectives.

I consider this Prize, not as a reward to
me personally, but rather as one of the greatest conquests in the
struggle for peace, for Human Rights and for the rights of the
indigenous people, who, for 500 years, have been split,
fragmented, as well as the victims of genocides, repression and
discrimination.

Please allow me to convey to you all, what
this Prize means to me.

In my opinion, the Nobel Peace Prize calls
upon us to act in accordance with what it represents, and the
great significance it has worldwide. In addition to being a
priceless treasure, it is an instrument with which to fight for
peace, for justice, for the rights of those who suffer the
abysmal economical, social, cultural and political inequalities,
typical of the order of the world in which we live, and where the
transformation into a new world based on the values of the human
being, is the expectation of the majority of those who live on
this planet.

This Nobel Prize represents a standard
bearer that encourages us to continue denouncing the violation of
Human Rights, committed against the people in Guatemala, in
America and in the world, and to perform a positive role in
respect of the pressing task in my country, which is to achieve
peace with social justice.

The Nobel Prize is a symbol of peace, and
of the efforts to build up a real democracy. It will stimulate
the civil sectors so that through a solid national unity, these
may contribute to the process of negotiations that seek peace,
reflecting the general feeling - although at times not possible
to express because of fear - of Guatemalan society: to establish
political and legal grounds that will give irreversible impulses
to a solution to what initiated the internal armed conflict.

There is no doubt whatsoever that it
constitutes a sign of hope in the struggle of the indigenous
people in the entire Continent.

It is also a tribute to the
Central-American people who are still searching for their
stability, for the structuring of their future, and the path for
their development and integration, based on civil democracy and
mutual respect.

The importance of this Nobel Prize has been
demonstrated by all the congratulations received from everywhere,
from Heads of Government - practically all the American
Presidents - to the organizations of the indigenous people and of
Human Rights, from all over the world. In fact, what they see in
this Nobel Peace Prize is not only a reward and a recognition of
a single person, but a starting point for the hard struggle
towards the achievement of that revindication which is yet to be
fulfilled.

As a contrast, and paradoxically, it was
actually in my own country where I met, on the part of some
people, the strongest objections, reserve and indifference, for
the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to this Quiché Indian.
Perhaps because in Latin America, it is precisely in Guatemala
where the discrimination towards the indigenous, towards women,
and the repression of the longing for justice and peace, are more
deeply rooted in certain social and political sectors.

Under present circumstances, in this
disordered and complex world, the decision of the Norwegian Nobel
Peace Prize Committee to award this honorable distinction to me,
reflects the awareness of the fact that, in this way, courage and
strength is given to the struggle of peace, reconciliation and
justice; to the struggle against racism, cultural discrimination,
and hence contributes to the achievement of harmonious
co-existence between our people.

With deep pain, on one side, but with
satisfaction on the other, I have to inform you that the Nobel
Peace Prize 1992 will have to remain temporarily in Mexico City,
in watchful waiting for peace in Guatemala. Because there are no
political conditions in my country that would indicate or make me
foresee a prompt and just solution. The satisfaction and
gratitude are due to the fact that Mexico, our brother neighbor
country, that has been so dedicated and interested, that has made
such great efforts in respect of the negotiations that are being
conducted to achieve peace, that has received and admitted so
many refugees and exiled Guatemalans, has given us a place in the
Museo del Templo Mayor (the cradle of the ancient Aztecs) so that
the Nobel Prize may remain there, until peaceful and safe
conditions are established in Guatemala to place it here, in the
land of the Quetzal.1

When evaluating the overall significance of
the award of the Peace Prize, I would like to say some words on
behalf of all those whose voice cannot be heard or who have been
repressed for having spoken their opinions, of all those who have
been marginalized, who have been discriminated, who live in
poverty, in need, of all those who are the victims of repression
and violation of human rights. Those who, nevertheless, have
endured through centuries, who have not lost their conscience,
determination, and hope.

Please allow me, ladies and gentlemen, to
say some words about my country and the civilization of the
Mayas. The Maya people developed and spread geographically
through some 300,000 square km; they occupied parts of the South
of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, as well as Honduras and El
Salvador; they developed a very rich civilization in the area of
political organization, as well as in social and economic fields;
they were great scientists in the fields of mathematics,
astronomy, agriculture, architecture and engineering; they were
great artists in the fields of sculpture, painting, weaving and
carving.

The Mayas discovered the zero value in
mathematics, at about the same time that it was discovered in
India and later passed on to the Arabs. Their astronomic
forecasts based on mathematical calculations and scientific
observations were amazing, and still are. They prepared a
calendar more accurate than the Gregorian, and in the field of
medicine they performed intracranial surgical operations.

One of the Maya books, which escaped
destruction by the conquistadores, known as The Codex of
Dresden, contains the results of an investigation on eclipses
as well a table of 69 dates, in which solar eclipse occur in a
lapse of 33 years.

Today, it is important to emphasize the
deep respect that the Maya civilization had towards life and
nature in general.

Who can predict what other great scientific
conquests and developments these people could have achieved, if
they had not been conquered by blood and fire, and subjected to
an ethnocide that affected nearly 50 million people in the course
of 500 years.

I would describe the meaning of this Nobel
Peace prize, in the first place as a tribute to the Indian people
who have been sacrificed and have disappeared because they aimed
at a more dignified and just life with fraternity and
understanding among human beings. To those who are no longer
alive to keep up the hope for a change in the situation in
respect of poverty and marginalization of the Indians, of those
who have been banished, of the helpless in Guatemala as well as
in the entire American Continent.

This growing concern is comforting, even
though it comes 500 years later, to the suffering, the
discrimination, the oppression and the exploitation that our
peoples have been exposed to, but who, thanks to their own
cosmovision - and concept of life, have managed to withstand and
finally see some promising prospects. How those roots, that were
to be eradicated, now begin to grow with strength, hope and
visions of the future!

It also represents a sign of the growing
international interest for, and understanding of the original
Rights of the People, of the future of more than 60 million
Indians that live in our Americas, and their outcry because of
the 500 years of oppression that they have endured. For the
genocide beyond comparison that they have had to suffer
throughout this epoch, and from which other countries and the
elite of the Americas have profited and taken advantage.

Let there be freedom for the Indians,
wherever they may be in the American Continent or elsewhere in
the world, because while they are alive, a glow of hope will be
alive as well as a true concept of life.

The expressions of great happiness by the
Indian Organizations in the entire Continent and the worldwide
congratulations received for the award of the Nobel Peace Prize,
clearly indicate the great importance of this decision. It is the
recognition of the European debt to the American indigenous
people; it is an appeal to the conscience of Humanity so that
those conditions of marginalization that condemned them to
colonialism and exploitation may be eradicated; it is a cry for
life, peace, justice, equality and fraternity between human
beings.

The peculiarities of the vision of the
Indian people are expressed according to the way in which they
are related to each other. First, between human beings, through
communication. Second, with the earth, as with our mother,
because she gives us our lives and is not mere merchandise.
Third, with nature, because we are an integral part of it, and
not its owners.

To us Mother Earth is not only a source of
economic riches that give us the maize, which is our life, but
she also provides so many other things that the privileged ones
of today strive for. The Earth is the root and the source of our
culture. She keeps our memories, she receives our ancestors and
she, therefore, demands that we honor her and return to her, with
tenderness and respect, those goods that she gives us. We have to
take care of her so that our children and grandchildren may
continue to benefit from her. If the world does not learn now to
show respect to nature, what kind of future will the new
generations have?

From these basic features derive behavior,
rights and obligations in the American Continent, for the
indigenous people as well as for the non-indigenous, whether they
be racially mixed, blacks, whites or Asian. The whole society has
an obligation to show mutual respect, to learn from each other
and to share material and scientific achievements, in the most
convenient way. The indigenous peoples never had, and still do
not have, the place that they should have occupied in the
progress and benefits of science and technology, although they
represented an important basis for this development.

If the indigenous civilization and the
European civilizations could have made exchanges in a peaceful
and harmonious manner, without destruction, exploitation,
discrimination and poverty, they could, no doubt, have achieved
greater and more valuable conquests for Humanity.

Let us not forget that when the Europeans
came to America, there were flourishing and strong civilization
there. One cannot talk about a "discovery of America", because
one discovers that which one does not known about, or that which
is hidden. But America and its native civilizations had
discovered themselves long before the fall of the Roman Empire
and Medieval Europe. The significance of its cultures forms part
of the heritage of humanity and continues to astonish the
learned.

I think it is necessary that the indigenous
peoples, of which I am a member, should contribute their science
and knowledge to human development, because we have enormous
potential and we could combine our very ancient heritage with the
achievements of European civilization as well as with
civilizations in other parts of the world.

But this contribution, that to our
understanding is a recovery of the natural and cultural heritage,
must take place based on a rational and consensual basis in
respect of the right to make use of knowledge and natural
resources, with guarantees for equality between Government and
society.

We the indigenous are willing to combine
tradition with modernism, but not at any cost. We will not
tolerate or permit that our future be planned as possible
guardians of ethno-touristic projects on a continental level.

At a time when the commemoration of the
Fifth Centenary of the arrival of Columbus in America has
repercussions all over the world, the revival of hope for the
oppressed indigenous peoples demands that we reassert our
existence to the world and the value of our cultural identity. It
demands that we endeavor to actively participate in the decisions
that concern our destiny, in the building-up of our
countries/nations. Should we, in spite of all, not be taken into
consideration, there are factors that guarantee our future:
struggle and endurance; courage; the decision to maintain our
traditions that have been exposed to so many perils and
sufferings; solidarity towards our struggle on the part of
numerous countries, governments, organizations and citizens of
the world.

That is why I dream of the day when the
relationship between the indigenous peoples and other peoples is
strengthened; when they can combine their potentialities and
their capabilities and contribute to make life on this planet
less unequal, a better distribution of the scientific and
cultural treasures accumulated by Humanity, flourishing in peace
and justice.

Today, in the 47th period of sessions of
the General Assembly, the United nations (UN) will proclaim 1993
as the International Year of the World's Indigenous
People, in the presence of well-known chiefs of the
organizations of the Indian people and of the coordination of the
Continental Movement of Indigenous, Blacks and Popular
Resistance. They will all formally participate in the opening of
the working sessions in order to make 1993 a year of specific
actions to truly place the indigenous peoples within their
national contexts and to make them part of mutual international
agreements.

The achievement of the International
Year of the World's Indigenous People and the progress
represented by the preparation of the project for the
Universal Declaration, are the result of the participation
of numerous Indian brothers, nongovernmental organizations and
the successful efforts of the experts in the Working group, in
addition to the comprehensiveness shown by many countries in the
United Nations.

We hope that the formulation of the project
in respect of the Declaration on the Rights of the indigenous
People will examine and go deeply into the existing difficulty
reality that we, the Indo-Americans, experience.2

Our people will have a year dedicated to
the problems that afflict them and, in this respect, are now
getting ready to carry out different activities with the purpose
of presenting proposals and putting pressure on action plans. All
this will be conducted in the most reasonable way and with the
most convincing and justified arguments for the elimination of
racism, oppression, discrimination and the exploitation of those
who have been dragged into poverty and oblivion. Also for "the
condemned of the earth", the award of the Nobel Peace Prize
represents a recognition, an encouragement and an objective for
the future.

I wish that a conscious sense of peace and
a feeling of human solidarity would develop in all peoples, which
would open new relationships of respect and equality for the next
millennium, to be ruled by fraternity and not by cruel
conflicts.

Opinion is being formed everywhere today,
that in spite of wars and violence, calls upon the entire human
race to protect its historical values and to form unity in
diversity. And this calls upon us all to reflect upon the
incorporation of important elements of change and transformation
in all aspects of life on earth, in the search for specific and
definite solutions to the deep ethical crisis that afflicts
Humanity. This will, no doubt have decisive influence on the
structure of the future.

There is a possibility that some centers of
political and economic power, some statesmen and intellectuals,
have not yet managed to see the advantages of the active
participation of the indigenous peoples in all the fields of human activity. However, the
movement initiated by different political and intellectual
"Amerindians" will finally convince them that, from an objective
point of view, we are a constituent part of the historical
alternatives that are being discussed at the international
level.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to say some
candid words about my country.

The attention that this Nobel Peace Prize
has focused on Guatemala, should imply that the violation of the
human rights is no longer ignored internationally. It will also
honor all those who died in the struggle for social equality and
justice in my country.

It is known throughout the world that the
Guatemalan people, as a result of their struggle, succeeded in
achieving, in October 1944, a period of democracy where
institutionality and human rights were the main philosophies. At
that time, Guatemala was an exception in the American Continent,
because of its struggle for complete national sovereignty.
However, in 1954, a conspiracy that associated the traditional
national power centers, inheritors of colonialism, with powerful
foreign interests, overthrew the democratic regime as a result of
an armed invasion, thereby re-imposing the old system of
oppression which has characterized the history of my
country.3

The economic, social and political
subjection that derived from the Cold War, was what initiated the
internal armed conflict. The repression against the organizations
of the people, the democratic parties and the intellectuals,
started in Guatemala long before the war started. Let us not
forget that.

In the attempt to crush rebellion,
dictatorships have committed the greatest atrocities. They have
leveled villages, and murdered thousands of peasants particularly
Indians, hundreds of trade union workers and students,
outstanding intellectuals and politicians, priests and nuns.
Through this systematic persecution in the name of the safety of
the nation, one million peasants were removed by force from their
lands; 100,000 had to seek refuge in the neighboring countries.
In Guatemala, there are today almost 100,000 orphans and more
than 40,000 widows. The practice of "disappeared" politicians was
invented in Guatemala, as a government policy.

As you know, I am myself a survivor of a
massacred family.

The country collapsed into a crisis never
seen before and the changes in the world forced and encouraged
the military forces to permit a political opening that consisted
in the preparation of a new Constitution, in an expansion of the
political field, and in the transfer of the government to civil
sectors. We have had this new regime for eight years and in
certain fields there have been some openings of importance.

However, in spite of these openings,
repression and violation of human rights persists in the middle
of an economic crisis, that is becoming more and more acute, to
the extent that 84% of the population is today considered as
poor, and some 60% are considered as very poor. Impunity and
terror continue to prevent people from freely expressing their
needs and vital demands. The internal armed conflict still
exists.

The political life in my country has lately
centered around the search for a political solution to the global
crisis and the armed conflict that has existed in Guatemala since
1962. This process was initiated by the Agreement signed in this
City of Oslo, between the Comisión Nacional de
Reconciliación with government mandate, and the Unidad
Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) as a necessary step
to introduce to Guatemala the spirit of the Agreement of
Esquipulas.4

As a result of this Agreement and
conversations between the URNG and different sectors of
Guatemalan society, direct negotiations were initiated under the
government of President Serrano, between the government and the
guerrillas, as a result of which three agreements have already
been signed. However, the subject of Human Rights has taken a
long time, because this subject constitutes the core of the
Guatemalan problems, and around this core important differences
have arisen. Nevertheless, there has been considerable
progress.

The process of negotiations aims at
reaching agreements in order to establish the basis for a real
democracy in Guatemala and for an end to the war. As far as I
understand, with the goodwill of the parties concerned and the
active participation of the civil sectors, adapting to a great
national unity, the phase of purposes and intentions could be
left behind so that Guatemala could be pulled out of the
crossroads that seem to have become eternal.

Dialogues and political negotiations are,
no doubt, adequate means to solve these problems, in order to
respond in a specific way to the vital and urgent needs for life
and for the implementation of democracy for the Guatemalan
people. However, I am convinced that if the diverse social
sectors which integrate Guatemalan society find bases of unity,
respecting their natural differences, they would together find a
solution to those problems and therefore resolve the causes which
initiated the war which prevails in Guatemala.

Other civil sectors as well as the
international community must demand that the negotiations between
the Government and the URNG surpass the period in which they are
finding themselves in discussing Human Rights and move ahead as
soon as possible to a verifiable agreement with the United
Nations. It is necessary to point out, here in Oslo, that the
issue of Human Rights in Guatemala constitutes, at present, the
most urgent problem that has to be solved. My statement is
neither incidental nor unjustified.

As has been ascertained by international
institutions, such as The United Nations Commission on Human
Rights, The Interamerican Commission of Human Rights and many
other humanitarian organizations, Guatemala is one of the
countries in America with the largest number of violations of
these rights, and the largest number of cases of impunity where
security forces are generally involved. It is imperative that the
repression and persecution of the people and the Indians be
stopped. The compulsory mobilization and integration of young
people into the Patrols of Civil Self Defense, which principally
affects the Indian people, must also be stopped.

Democracy in Guatemala must be built-up as
soon as possible. It is necessary that Human Rights agreements be
fully complied with, i.e. an end to racism; guaranteed freedom to
organize and to move within all sectors of the country. In short,
it is imperative to open all fields to the multi-ethnic civil
society with all its rights, to demilitarize the country and
establish the basis for its development, so that it can be pulled
out of today's underdevelopment and poverty.

Among the most bitter dramas that a great
percentage of the population has to endure, is the forced exodus.
Which means, to be forced by military units and persecution to
abandon their villages, their Mother Earth, where their ancestors
rest, their environment, the nature that gave them life and the
growth of their communities, all of which constituted a coherent
system of social organization and functional democracy.

The case of the displaced and of refugees
in Guatemala is heartbreaking; some of them are condemned to live
in exile in other countries, but the great majority live in exile
in their own country. They are forced to wander from place to
place, to live in ravines and inhospitable places, some not
recognized as Guatemalan citizens, but all of them are condemned
to poverty and hunger. There cannot be a true democracy as long
as this problem is not satisfactorily solved and these people are
reinstated on their lands and in their villages.

In the new Guatemalan society, there must
be a fundamental reorganization in the matter of land ownership,
to allow for the development of the agricultural potential, as
well as for the return of the land to the legitimate owners. This
process of reorganization must be carried out with the greatest
respect for nature, in order to protect her and return to her,
her strength and capability to generate life.

No less characteristic of a democracy is
social justice. This demands a solution to the frightening
statistics on infant mortality, of malnutrition, lack of
education, analphabetism, wages insufficient to sustain life.
These problems have a growing and painful impact on the
Guatemalan population and imply no prospects and no hope.

Among the features that characterize
society today, is that of the role of women, although female
emancipation has not, in fact, been fully achieved so far by any
country in the world.

The historical development in Guatemala
reflects now the need and the irreversibility of the active
contribution of women to the configuration of the new Guatemalan
social order, of which, I humbly believe, the Indian women
already are a clear testimony. This Nobel Peace Prize is a
recognition to those who have been, and still are in most parts
of the world, the most exploited of the exploited; the most
discriminated of the discriminated, the most marginalized of the
marginalized, but still those who produce life and riches.

Democracy, development and modernization of
a country are impossible and incongruous without the solution of
these problems.

In Guatemala, it is just as important to
recognize the Identity and the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples,
that have been ignored and despised not only during the colonial
period, but also during the Republic. It is not possible to
conceive a democratic Guatemala, free and independent, without
the indigenous identity shaping its character into all aspects of
national existence.

It will undoubtedly be something new, a
completely new experience, with features that, at the moment, we
cannot describe. But it will authentically respond to history and
the characteristics of the real Guatemalan nationality. The true
profile that has been distorted for such a long time.

This urgency of this vital need, are the
issues that urge me, at this moment, from this rostrum, to urge
national opinion and the international community, to show a more
active interest in Guatemala.

Taking into consideration that in
connection with my role as a Nobel Prize Winner, in the process
of negotiations for peace in Guatemala many possibilities have
been handled, but now I think that this role is more likely to be
the role of a promotor of peace, of national unity, for the
protection of the rights of the indigenous peoples. In such a
way, that I may take initiatives in accordance with the needs,
and thereby prevent the Peace Prize from becoming a piece of
paper that has been pigeonholed.

I call upon all the social and ethnic
sectors that constitute the people of Guatemala to participate
actively in the efforts to find a peaceful solution to the armed
conflict, to build-up a sound unity between the
"ladinos,"5 the blacks and
the Indians, all of whom must create within their diverse groups,
a "Guatemality".

Along these same lines, I invite the
international community to contribute with specific actions so
that the parties involved may overcome the differences that at
this stage keep negotiations in a wait-and-see state, so that
they will succeed, first of all, in signing an agreement on Human
Rights. And then, to re-initiate the rounds of negotiation and
identify those issues on which to compromise, to allow for the
Peace Agreement to be signed and immediately ratified, because I
have no doubt that this will bring about great relief in the
prevailing situation in Guatemala.

My opinion is also that the UN should have
a more direct participation, which would go further than playing
the role of observer, and could help substantially to move the
process ahead.

Ladies and gentlemen, the fact that. I have
given preference to the American Continent, and in particular to
my country, does not mean that I do not have an important place
in my mind and in my heart for the concern of other peoples of
the world and their constant struggle in the defense of peace, of
the right to a life and all its inalienable rights. The majority
of us who are gathered here today, constitute an example of the
above, and along these lines I would humbly extend to you my
gratitude.

Many things have changed in these last
years. There have been great changes of worldwide character. The
East-West confrontation has ceased to exist and the Cold War has
come to an end. These changes, the exact forms of which cannot
yet be predicted, have left gaps that the people of the world
have known how to make use of in order to come forward, struggle
and win national terrain and international recognition.

Today, we must fight for a better world,
without poverty, without racism, with peace in the Middle East
and in Southeast Asia, to where I address a plea for the
liberation of Mrs.
Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1991; for a
just and peaceful solution, in the Balkans; for the end of the
apartheid in South Africa; for the stability in Nicaragua, that
the Peace Agreement in El Salvador be observed; for the
re-establishment of democracy in Haiti; for the complete
sovereignty of Panama; because all of these constitute the
highest aims for justice in the international situation.

A world at peace that could provide
consistency, interrelations and concordance in respect of the
economic, social and cultural structures of the societies would
indeed have deep roots and a robust influence.

We have in our mind the deepest felt
demands of the entire human race, when we strive for peaceful
co-existence and the preservation of the environment. The
struggle we fight purifies and shapes the future.

Our history is a living history, that has
throbbed, withstood and survived many centuries of sacrifice. Now
it comes forward again with strength. The seeds, dormant for such
a long time, break out today with some uncertainty, although they
germinate in a world that is at present characterized by
confusion and uncertainty.

There is no doubt that this process will be
long and complex, but it is no Utopia and we, the Indians, we
have new confidence in its implementation.

The peoples of Guatemala will mobilize and
will be aware of their strength in building up a worthy future.
They are preparing themselves to sow the future, to free
themselves from atavisms, to rediscover their heritage. To build
a country with a genuine national identity. To start a new
life.

By combining all the shades and nuances of
the "ladinos", the "garífunas"6 and Indians in the Guatemalan
ethnic mosaic, we must interlace a number of colors without
introducing contradictions, without becoming grotesque nor
antagonistic, but we must give them brightness and a superior
quality, just the way our weavers weave a typical huipil blouse,
brilliantly composed, a gift to Humanity.

Thank you very much.

1.
The government and the guerrillas signed a peace agreement in
December 1996, but Rigoberta's Nobel medal and diploma still
remain at the Museo del Templo Mayor in Mexico City.
The Qetzal is the national bird of Guatemala.

2.
The reference is to the Declaration on Rights of Persons
Belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic
Minorities, which was adopted by the General Assembly of the
United Nations on December 18, 1992. The Working Group was the
Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.

3.
The revolution of 1944 brought to power the presidential regime
of Dr. Juan José Arévalo, who instituted democratic and
social reforms. His successor, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, was
considered to be pro-communists by the government of President
Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States, which ordered the CIA
to cooperate with right-wing and military forces in an armed
invasion which overthrew the Arbenz government in 1954. The
ensuing period of repression led to the civil war which lasted
from 1962 to 1996.

4.
This agreement between the governmental National Commission for
Reconciliation and the guerrilla Guatemalan National
Revolutionary Unity was signed at Oslo in March 1990. It was a
further step in the efforts of the two Guatemalan parties to end
their armed conflict, a process in which the government of
Guatemala was participating along with El Salvador, Honduras,
Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The five presidents had made several
attempts to agree on measures to end the civil wars in Central
American countries, one of their summits having taken place in
Esquipulas, Guatemala, in 1986. President Oscar Arias
Sánchez of Costa Rica took a leading role in these
negotiations, which were finally successful in the multilateral
agreement signed in August 1987. For his contribution Arias
received the Nobel Peace prize that year. See the previous volume
in this series, Nobel Lectures. Peace, 1981-1990, pp.
181-182.

5.
The ladinos are of Spanish and Indian descent.

6.
The garifunas are a tiny ethnic group on the Atlantic coast, of
African-Carib descent.